Ready Or Not: The BRWC Review

8th July 2020

Ready Or Not: The BRWC Review – For Grace (Samara Weaving) marrying into a wealthy family was never her intention. Growing up in foster homes all she ever wanted was a real family, so tying the knot with her boyfriend Alex (Mark O’Brien) was important to her emotional stability.

We meet Grace and Alex on their wedding day in “Ready or Not;” and, aside from a small plot preview flashback of Alex and his brother Daniel (Adam Brody) during the opening credits, these two seem like a nice couple. They were totally in love and hot for each other, and I quickly found myself really rooting for them to be together.

Well, as fate would have it, or as Alex’s family would have it, after the nuptials, Grace is forced to play a game to become an official member of the Le Domas family, who, unironically, made their fortune in gaming. There is a catch though, this isn’t just any game. This is a game that can quickly turn sinister if deceased family overlord Le Bail decides it to be so. Unfortunately for Grace, Le Bail decides she is to play Hide-and-Seek, but not in a traditional way, in a human flesh sacrifice way, with Grace being the Le Domas family target.

Co-Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett cleverly infused both horror and comedy into this wickedly fun treat. It’s almost a marriage of “Scream” (1996) where we get the campy blood, guts, and horror, and “The Cabin in The Woods” (2011) where we get more of the fun and humor.

Samara Weaving was perfectly cast as Grace, her looks are a unique marriage of sweet and sinister which worked well in the first movie I saw her in, “The Babysitter” (2017) and even more so here. The Le Domas family was also cast incredibly well though I don’t have a stand out side character I thought was really unique, it was more of an ensemble with each family member feeding off the other.

The Le Domas house was also almost a character in and of itself which gave me some fun memories of watching “Clue” (1985) when I was a kid while simultaneously painting the perfect backdrop. The lighting is impeccable as is the cinematography by DP Brett Jutkiewicz, it was the perfect blend of fire oranges, yellows, and browns which really gave the mansion a hell pit look, and made me feel confined and as breathless as Grace was as she ran away from the family hunting her.

I have to say I was impressed with this piece, the horror was so over the top and matched the crazy humor. Hunting bridal human flesh on her wedding day was a devilishly fun ride, and I had an equal amount of good laughs and scare jolts. I have not seen many directors with a natural ability to commercialize horror so well and with such care and attention to detail since Wes Craven.

I am so looking forward to what this directing duo does next. I’m also pretty sure the shot of Grace smoking a cigarette on the back steps of the mansion was a nod to Winona Ryder as Veronica in “Heathers,” (1989) and there’s nothing I love more than a good “Heathers” reference.

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